Mounting Sleeve for Mounting a Ring Member on a Shaft and a Bearing Assembly Incorporating Such a Mounting Sleeve

ABSTRACT

The present invention refers to a mounting sleeve ( 1 ) for mounting a ring having a tapering inner bore on a cylindrical shaft, wherein the mounting sleeve has a cylindrical inner envelope surface, wherein the inner surface of the mounting sleeve has an increased friction coefficient, for giving an increased ability to the mounting sleeve to transfer axial load, without sliding along the surface of the shaft.

The present invention refers to mounting of ring members on a shaft, and particularly and particularly to a mounting sleeve for mounting a bearing race ring on a shaft in order to give an improved ability of supporting axial load without slipping on the shaft. The invention also refers to a bearing assembly incorporating such a mounting sleeve.

In recent years, the load carrying capacity of rolling bearings has steadily increased due to improvements of internal bearing geometry, heat treatment and materials. As a consequence thereof, it is today possible to use bearings of smaller size for the same load as earlier required larger bearings, or alternatively, bearings of a certain size are today used for higher loads. A commonly used expression for this development is “down-sizing”.

As structural elements for fitting rolling bearings on shafts it is often used adapter sleeves, withdrawal sleeves or splined sleeves. All those sleeves are comparatively thin-walled, externally tapering steel sleeves with cylindrical bore and usually having an axially extending slot. For larger bearings, and therefore larger sleeves, the material used is cast iron. By pressing the inner race ring of the bearing up on the sleeve, whereby the inner race ring is subjected to expansion, a contact pressure is created which via friction will keep the bearing ring fixed to the sleeve and the sleeve fixed to the shaft.

When a bearing mounted on a sleeve is used as an axially locating bearing, the sleeve will transfer the axial load via friction between sleeve and shaft. By calculating the contact pressure for a given driving up distance for a specific bearing inner race ring, it is possible by estimating the friction coefficient to calculate which axial load a specific sleeve will be able to carry.

In order to estimate in a more simple manner the ability of the sleeve to support axial forces, it is often in bearing brochures referred to a control calculation, where the maximum axial load F_(amax) is shown as F_(amax)=3×B×d [N], where B is the width of the bearing ring in millimeters, d is the nominal bore diameter of the bearing ring in millimeters, and the digit 3 is a constant (N/mm²). The constant is chosen as an approximation of the friction coefficient, a typical driving up (expansion) of the bearing inner race ring, the modulus of elasticity for a typical bearing steel and an assumption of a typical ring cross section.

As a smaller bearing (motivated from the down-sizing aspect) has a smaller nominal diameter or smaller width or both, a consequence in this respect is that the ability of the bearing to accommodate axial load is decreasing, i.e. there will be a risk that the bearing inner race ring will be displaced from its position, which is not acceptable for a locating bearing.

As an example and based on an old bearing and the basic capacity thereof, it is for instance found that a spherical roller bearing 23256K, having the dimensions d=280 mm, B=176 mm and D=500 mm, is suited for a certain combination of radial and axial load. For the specific example it is assumed that the axial load is 130 kN. With a new bearing, having a higher basic capacity, it is evident that the smaller bearing 23152K having the dimensions d=260 mm, B=144 mm and D=440 mm, should be satisfactory from load carrying aspects.

The F_(amax)=3×B×d for the older bearing will be 147,8 kN, whereas it for the smaller bearing will be only 112,3 kN, i.e. only 76% of the axial load the sleeve of the larger bearing can carry. Therefore the parameters of the mounting sleeve will be the determining factor, and it should be necessary to increase the size of the bearing depending on the sleeve, which will give a more expensive bearing, and the possibilities of down-sizing the bearing assembly will be lost.

A possible manner of compensating this would be to increase the driving up (expansion) of the bearing inner race ring, but this in turn would give the negative consequence of an increase of the ring tension tangentially, resulting in a reduced fatigue endurance for the bearing.

Therefore a purpose of the present invention is to propose a mounting sleeve increasing the ability to accommodate and transfer axial load, and this has been achieved with a mounting sleeve as defined in claim 1.

Another purpose of the present invention is to propose a bearing assembly for a locating bearing incorporating such a mounting sleeve, as defined in claim 5.

Hereinafter the invention will be further described with reference to not limiting embodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawing.

FIG. 1 shows a cross-section of an embodiment of a mounting sleeve according to the invention, designed as a withdrawal sleeve.

FIG. 2 shows a cross-section of another embodiment of a mounting sleeve according to the invention, designed as an adapter sleeve.

FIG. 3 illustrates a bearing assembly mounted on a shaft via an adapter sleeve according to the invention.

FIG. 1 shows a cross-section of a mounting sleeve 1, in this embodiment being designed as a withdrawal sleeve, primarily intended for mounting and dismounting of bearing race rings, even if its use is not limited to mounting of rings for bearings.

The mounting sleeve 1 is thin-walled and has a substantially cylindrical inner envelope surface 2 and a slightly tapering outer envelope surface 3. Adjacent one axial end of the sleeve 1 there is arranged a circumferentially groove 4 and a threaded end portion 5. The sleeve 1 also is provided with an axially extending slot 6.

For increasing the ability to transfer axial force without slipping axially, the inner envelope surface 2 of the sleeve 1 has been subjected to friction increasing treatment in order to increase the F_(amax)-value, in spite of reduced contact surface for the inner envelope surface 2 of the mounting sleeve 1 against a (not shown) shaft. For achieving such increased friction, the inner envelope surface 2 of the mounting sleeve 1 in this embodiment is equipped with an internal coating 7 of an appropriate material. This coating can either be arranged to cover the entire inner envelope surface or it can be arranged to be partially applied to this surface. The coating can preferably, but not necessarily be based on a carbide.

In FIG. 2 is illustrated in cross-section a mounting sleeve in form of an adapter sleeve 8, having a substantially cylindrical inner envelope surface 9, a tapering outer surface 10, with a circumferential groove 11 adjacent one axial end thereof and a threaded portion 12, on which is arranged a lock nut 13 with a locking washer 14.

The inner envelope surface 9 has been provided with a friction increasing topography 15, for instance—but not exclusively—a knurling—such as illustrated. Also in this case the entire inner envelope surface or one or more parts thereof may be equipped with such a friction increasing topography.

In FIG. 3 is illustrated a bearing assembly, mounted on a substantially cylindrical shaft 16, and incorporating a spherical roller bearing 17, the inner race ring 18 of which has a tapering bore and is arranged to cooperate with the tapering outer envelope surface of a mounting sleeve in form of an adapter sleeve 19 and a lock nut 20, by aid of which the axially locating bearing 17 is arrested in its position on the shaft 16. The mounting sleeve 19 has been treated in any appropriate manner for obtaining an inner envelope surface with increased friction coefficient.

In the embodiments illustrated and described the portion having increased friction is illustrated just as the inner envelope surface of the mounting sleeve, but it is of course possible for instance to apply a coating or other friction increasing measures to the entire mounting sleeve.

The invention is not limited to the embodiments illustrated in the drawings and described with reference thereto but variants and modifications are possible within the scope of the appended claims. 

1. A mounting sleeve for mounting a ring having a tapering inner bore on a cylindrical shaft, the mounting sleeve comprising a sleeve having an inner cylindrical envelope surface and a friction increasing treatment on the inner surface so as to increase axial loading transferable by the sleeve between the ring and the shaft while remaining generally axially fixed on the shaft.
 2. The mounting sleeve as claimed in claim 1, wherein the inner surface of the mounting sleeve has a coating of a friction increasing material.
 3. The mounting sleeve as claimed in claim 1, wherein the inner surface of the mounting sleeve has a friction increasing surface topography.
 4. The mounting sleeve as claimed in claim 1, wherein the mounting sleeve is configured as one of an adapter sleeve, a withdrawal sleeve, and a splined sleeve.
 5. A bearing assembly comprising: a bearing inner race ring having a tapering bore, an outer race ring, a plurality of rolling bodies arranged between said inner race ring and said outer race ring, and a mounting sleeve configured to mount the bearing inner race ring on a cylindrical shaft, the mounting sleeve having an inner surface with a friction increasing treatment so as to increase axial loading transferable by the sleeve between the inner ring and the shaft while remaining generally axially fixed on the shaft.
 6. A mounting sleeve for mounting a bearing race ring on a cylindrical shaft, the ring having a tapering inner bore, the sleeve comprising: a sleeve having inner and outer surfaces, the outer surface being engageable with the bore of the ring; and one of a coating of a friction increasing material disposed on the sleeve inner surface and a friction increasing topography formed on the sleeve inner surface such that the mounting sleeve inner surface has an increased friction coefficient so as to increase axial loading transferable by the sleeve between the ring and the shaft while remaining generally axially fixed on the shaft. 